As we rise to another day of struggle on behalf of our planet and species, it is important to remember what it is that gives us hope.
The political sphere can seem like a hopeless shell game. What is the point of working so hard to change the world if, at some point, all our great ideals will dissolve into political compromise?
It is important to remember that the political sphere is only a stage upon which we live out our larger principles. We are not foot soldiers in a mere partisan struggle. We are the advocates of a unified humankind. Our values are not on the table to be won or lost. We use defeat as easily as victory to teach and learn what it is to be human. Political victory added nothing to Gandhi’s truth nor would have defeat detracted from it.
In our struggle we are not fighting against any one group, but on behalf of all humanity against every inhuman system. All true revolution is a call to return to our humanity in inhuman times. In such times, just remaining human is itself a victory.
“Nothing great was ever accomplished in a single lifetime.” We must emblazon those words in our hearts. The struggle is always worth it. For, if we do not improve our own age, we have made possible some future happiness. If all around us seems hopeless, then this is the perfect time to begin loosening the soil for future planters. The more hopeless the political situation, the more important are those who live and teach the principles of human decency.
Those who live by great principles are above the ebb and flow of political circumstance. They carry their treasure within. The struggle offers something more than hope. Even if we knew we would lose every campaign between here and the grave we should still choose this path of service to our one human family. It is the sure road to a life worth living.
All this is is a bunch of pablum. ” If all around us seems hopeless, then this is the perfect time to begin loosening the soil for future planters. ” What the hell is that supposed to mean? “The more hopeless the political situation, the more important are those who live and teach the principles of human decency.”
I am sorry, Jim, but how do YOU know what “the principles of human decency” are? What are the principles of human decency? I challenge you: name the 2, or 3, or 16 principles. Then tell us how you KNOW what they are.
(I respect you for trying to be a good man but I thin you way the hell overreach.)
David, Why don’t we start with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a start for the conversation? It was a statement by some of the best minds of its time on the question what a life of dignity would mean.